Distributed computer systems with time-dependent credentials

ABSTRACT

A distributed system in which time-dependent credentials are supplied by controllers that operate according to different local times. Errors that might arise from the controllers generating inconsistent credentials because of time skew are avoided by identifying credentials generated during transition intervals in which different ones of the controllers may generate different credentials at the same absolute time. During a transition interval, controllers and other devices may use credentials differentially based on the nature of the authentication function. Each controller may periodically renew its credentials based on self-scheduled renewals or based on requests from other devices, such that renewal times are offset by random delays to avoid excessive network traffic. Controllers may determine which credential is valid for any given time, based on a cryptographically secure key associated with that time and information identifying the entity that is associated with that credential.

BACKGROUND

Distributed computer systems have become an important solution to handlelarge amounts of data generated by modern computing demands. Spreadingthe computational workload over multiple separate computer systems notonly offers the ability to process data faster than a single-computersystem, but also provides scalability to add and remove computationalresources as needed, as well as availability to provide service withfewer disruptions by avoiding a single point of failure. Suchdistributed systems can consist of up to thousands of interconnectedcomputer systems, and are typically used by large enterprises to provideservices such as web-hosting or secure intranets.

The distributed nature of such systems, however, makes security achallenge. Some security configurations may require that a computerresponding to a request have access to a set of credentials for aparticular service. However, in some distributed systems, a service mayhave multiple instances running on different computers, and one or moreinstances may attempt to operate under the same credentials. Furthercompounding the challenge, some distributed systems may route anincoming request for service to a randomly-chosen computer in thedistributed system, so that different requests are spread out amongdifferent computers. Because the requestor does not distinguish amongthe many possible computers that might process a request for a service,any computer in the distributed system that may respond to a request forthat service may have access to credentials associated with the service.

Credentials may allow a computing device to participate in any number ofauthentication functions associated with providing the service. Forexample, an authentication function may involve a service-providingcomputing device proving the service's identity to another device thatrequires its requestors to provide that service. Frequently, a computingdevice will prove the identity of a service by performing acryptographic function using credentials of the service. For example, arequest for authentication may arise when the device providing a serviceseeks to access information or other resources restricted to instancesof that service. Alternatively, a request for authentication can arisein other contexts, such as when a client seeking to access a serviceattempts to verify that the device providing the service indeedrepresents that service. Regardless of the nature of the authenticationfunction to be performed, for any one of a number of computing devicesin a distributed system to seamlessly perform these authenticationfunctions, one or more devices may take actions to run under asynchronized set of credentials. In this way, one or more computersinvolved in providing a service may present a common identity and mayinterchangeably participate in providing the service.

Furthermore, good security practices may dictate that these credentialsbe periodically updated to maintain their secrecy. This credentialupdate may be referred to as a refresh, rollover, or regeneration ofcredentials. Regardless of the name, it is known to provide periodicupdates of credentials by manually updating the credentials on computingdevices that are authorized to have access to them. The process can beautomated to a degree with scripts generating and setting thecredentials, but mistakes are still common and may require humanassistance. It is not uncommon for a large organization to spendsignificant amounts of money on personnel running these manual orpartially automated operations. It is also not uncommon to experiencedisruptions in one or more services during such updates, especially whenupdates are coordinated among multiple instances of a service running ina distributed environment. Such disruptions may lead to monetary orpersonnel productivity loss for the organization.

SUMMARY

In a distributed system in which time-dependent credentials can begenerated by any of multiple issuing devices, credential information isgenerated to include a first and a second credential. The firstcredential may be a credential computed for a current interval, asdetermined by a local time as tracked by the issuing device generatingthe credential information. The second credential may be a credentialcomputed for a prior interval, as determined by a local time as trackedby the issuing device generating the credential information.

In addition to first and second credentials, the credential informationmay include an indication of whether the credential information wasgenerated within a threshold amount of time of a transition between theprior and the current interval. Within this threshold of a credentialtransition, different ones of the credential-issuing devices maygenerate inconsistent credentials because of differences in local timeas tracked by the issuing devices. Outside of this threshold, however,different ones of the issuing devices may generate consistentcredentials, because their local times may either all be before or mayall be after the credential transition. This threshold amount of timemay be represented by a window of time around a transition or by anyother suitable representation of an interval around a transition betweencredential information.

Devices having access to the credential information may selectively usethe credentials based on whether the credentials were generated within atransition interval. In some embodiments, outside the transitioninterval, the first credential may be used. Within the transitioninterval, either the first or second credential may be used.

Furthermore, when a device generates information based on a credential,if that information is to be processed by a device that potentially hasreceived credentials from an issuing device different than the issuingdevice used to generate the information, the second credential may beused. For processing received information that may have been generatedusing credentials potentially generated by an issuing device differentthan the one used to process the information, either the first or thesecond credential may be used to process the information.

In some embodiments, time-dependent credentials may be computed using atechnique appropriate for a distributed system. Time-dependentcredentials may be computed for an account, or any other entity forwhich credentials are generated, using two types of intervals. A firsttype of interval may define intervals that an issuing device may trackusing its own local clock. Such devices may identify intervals of thefirst type with a common set of identifiers and can select a key, forexample, a cryptographic key, in use for each interval of the firsttype.

A second type of interval may relate to an account and indicate a periodof time for which a credential for an account is valid. The intervals ofthe second type may be different for each account, but the issuingdevices that generate credentials can determine, in terms of intervalsof the first type, the duration of each interval of the second type foreach account, such that intervals of a second type reveal a scheduledcredential refresh time.

To generate a credential for an account, a device may determine a time,in terms of an interval of the first type, at which the credentials forthe account are scheduled to change. This time, for example, may be thestart of an interval of the second type. A device generating credentialsmay obtain a key, shared with other devices that generate credentials,that is valid for that interval of the first type. The key, incombination with information relating to the account and the time forwhich the credential is generated, may be combined in a cryptographicfunction to generate a credential. That credential may be valid for acurrent interval of the second type. To determine a credential for aprior interval, the interval of the first type marking the start of theprior interval of the second type may be identified, and the computationmay be repeated for that interval.

In some embodiments, one or more techniques may be used to reduceexcessive computational load throughout a distributed system that mightotherwise occur if each of multiple devices were to compute newcredentials for each account at a similarly scheduled rollover time. Adevice triggering re-generation of a credential may determine ascheduled rollover time, but the actual generation of credentials mayoccur at a time offset from the scheduled time by a random interval. Insome embodiments, this random interval may be determined by the issuingdevice that generates the credential. In other embodiments, credentialsmay be requested from devices that use the credentials and such requestsmay be randomly distributed in time to avoid multiple requests arrivingat the same time.

In one aspect, the invention relates to a system comprising a pluralityof host computing devices and a plurality of controlling computingdevices. The host computing devices host a plurality of services, andeach of the controlling computing devices is configured to generatecredential information for any service of the plurality of services. Thecredential information consists of a first credential, a secondcredential, and an indication. The first credential is determined for afirst time interval of a plurality of time intervals based on a currentlocal time of the controlling computing device. The second credential isdetermined for a second time interval of the plurality of timeintervals, the second time interval preceding the first time interval.The indication indicates whether the local time of the controllingcomputing device is within a threshold amount of time of a transitionbetween the first time interval and the second time interval.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of operating acomputing device in a group of a plurality of computing devices thatissue time-dependent credentials in a distributed system. Each computingdevice issues consistent credentials in a plurality of time intervals,the credentials being issued by each computing device in dependence onlocal time maintained locally on the computing device. The methodconsists of, with at least one processor, supplying credentialinformation, which comprises a first credential, a second credential,and an indication. The first credential is determined for a first timeinterval of the plurality of time intervals based on the current localtime of the computing device. The second credential is determined for asecond time interval of the plurality of time intervals, the second timeinterval preceding the first time interval. The indication indicateswhether the local time of the computing device is within a thresholdamount of time of a transition between the first time interval and thesecond time interval.

In another aspect, the invention relates to at least onecomputer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executableinstructions that, when executed, control a host computing device in adistributed system comprising a plurality of controlling computingdevices that issue time-dependent credentials. Each of the plurality ofcontrolling devices issues consistent credentials in a plurality of timeintervals, the credentials being issued by each controlling device independence on local time maintained locally on the controlling device.The computing device uses credentials to perform an authenticationfunction in accordance with a method. The method consists of receivingcredential information from a controlling device of the plurality ofcontrolling devices, wherein the credential information comprises afirst credential, a second credential, and an indication. The firstcredential is determined for a first time interval of the plurality oftime intervals based on the current local time of the controllingdevice. The second credential is determined for a second time intervalof the plurality of time intervals, the second time interval precedingthe first time interval. The indication indicates whether the local timeof the controlling device is within a threshold amount of time of atransition between the first time interval and the second time interval.The method also consists of, based on the indication, selecting betweenthe first credential and the second credential for use in performing theauthentication function.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a networked system thatconsists of a plurality of computing devices, each having a respectivelocal timing source, and each computing device being adapted to identifyintervals of a plurality of intervals, the plurality of computingdevices tracking intervals of a common duration using a respective localtiming source. Furthermore, each computing device computes a credentialfor an entity by selecting an interval of the plurality of intervalsbased on credential rollover information associated with the entity, andexecuting a function of at least the selected interval and informationassociated with the entity.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of operating acomputing device in a plurality of computing devices to generatetime-dependent credentials for each of a plurality of accounts. Themethod consists of tracking time to identify a plurality of intervalsand, with at least one processor, generating a credential for anaccount. This generation of a credential consists of determining for theaccount an interval of the plurality of intervals at which thecredential for the account was most recently scheduled to change basedon credential refresh information associated with the account,determining a key for the determined interval, and computing thecredential as a function of at least the key and information associatedwith the account.

In another aspect, the invention relates to at least onecomputer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform amethod of computing a credential for an entity. This method consists ofaccessing credential refresh information for the entity, where thecredential refresh information consists of a starting time andcredential rollover interval. Based on at least the starting time andthe credential rollover interval, the method also consists of computinga scheduled time of credential rollover and computing the credential asa function of at least the computed scheduled time of credentialrollover and information associated with the account.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a networked system thatconsists of a plurality of computing devices, each computing devicebeing adapted to generate consistent credentials for each of a pluralityof entities, where the credential generated for each entity is differentduring each of a plurality of first-type intervals applicable to theentity. Each computing device generates the credentials by tracking aplurality of second-type intervals of a common duration and computing acredential for an entity. The computation of a credential for an entityconsists of selecting a second-type interval of the plurality ofsecond-type intervals based on credential rollover informationassociated with the entity, the selected second-type interval defining astart of a first-type interval, and executing, at a time that is offsetfrom a reference time defined by the selected second-type interval, acryptographic function to generate the credential for the entity that isvalid during the first-type interval.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of operating adistributed computer system to provide time-dependent credentials. Thismethod consists of, for each of one or more entities, with at least oneprocessor, repeatedly generating credentials, where each credential isvalid for a first-type interval determined relative to a subset of aplurality of second-type intervals. The generation of credentialsconsists of determining, for each of the one or more entities, a time tore-generate the credential for a second first-type interval, where thetime is determined relative to an end of a first first-type interval andis offset from the end of the first first-type interval by a randomtime.

In another aspect, the invention relates to at least onecomputer-readable storage medium that consists of computer executableinstructions that, when executed by a computing device in a distributedcomputing system with a plurality of controllers, perform a method. Thismethod consists of receiving credential information, the credentialinformation comprising at least one credential and a time indicationvalue indicating a projected time at which an updated credential can beobtained from any of the plurality controllers. Furthermore, the methodincludes requesting an updated credential at a random time determinedrelative to the projected time.

The foregoing is a non-limiting summary of the invention, which isdefined by the attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or nearly identical component that isillustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. Forpurposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in everydrawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of a distributed system in whichembodiments of the invention may operate;

FIG. 1B is a sketch illustrating a flow of credential information withina distributed system during an authentication function;

FIG. 1C is a sketch illustrating a flow of credential information withina distributed system during an alternative authentication function;

FIG. 2A is a sketch of a timeline illustrating issuance oftime-dependent credentials on a single computing device;

FIG. 2B is a sketch illustrating a transition interval in which multiplecomputing devices, each issuing time-dependent credentials, may issueinconsistent credentials because of clock skew;

FIG. 2C is a sketch illustrating symmetric transition intervals aroundscheduled renewal times for a credential in which computing devices mayissue inconsistent credentials because of clock skew;

FIG. 2D is a sketch illustrating asymmetric transition intervals, aswell as other time intervals used by a computing device to issuetime-dependent credential information to avoid effects ofinconsistencies in a distributed system;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of operation of a computing device toissue time-dependent credential information to avoid effects ofinconsistencies in a distributed system;

FIG. 4A is a flow chart of a method of performing an authenticationfunction involving an inbound authentication request using credentialinformation generated according to the method of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4B is a flow chart of a method of performing an authenticationfunction involving an outbound authentication request using credentialinformation generated according to the method of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5A is a flow chart of a method of generating time dependentcredential information that reduces incidences of high computationaldemand on computing devices within a distributed system;

FIG. 5B is a flow chart of a method of operating a computing device thatuses credential information within a distributed system that reducesinstances of high computation load within the distributed system;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of computing atime-dependent credential; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a representative computing deviceon which embodiments of the invention may operate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that improved techniquesfor supplying and/or using credential information may reduce the risk oferrors or disruptions that can arise in a distributed system in whichdevices, such as hosts for services, acquire credentials from any ofmultiple issuing devices, such as domain controllers. In some systems,controllers may provide time-dependent credentials, such that the hostsand/or the controllers can successfully perform authentication functionsdespite inconsistencies that can arise from timing skew among thecontrollers that result in different ones of the controllers generatingdifferent credentials applicable at the same time in an absolute timeframe.

In some embodiments, each service, or other entity that is to usecredentials, may have an account replicated on the controllers.Information associated with the account may reveal a validity intervalassociated with credentials, such that the credentials for each accountmay be changed upon passage of a validity interval. In a distributedsystem in which each of the controllers maintains its own local time,different controllers can change the credentials at different times. Asa result, an authentication function performed in part using credentialson one controller might fail when another part of the authenticationfunction is performed on a different controller using inconsistentcredentials.

In some embodiments of a distributed system, each controller may have amechanism to identify an interval and a mechanism to generatecredentials for the interval. For example, each controller may dividetime into intervals, and a different credential for a service may beassigned to each interval. Each of multiple controllers may attempt togenerate consistent credentials for the service by performing acomputation that depends on the interval during which the credentialsare generated. However, each of the controllers may track its own localtime such that a difference, or skew, between the local times tracked bydifferent ones of the controllers may result in different ones of thecontrollers, at the same absolute time, assigning a different intervalto that time and accordingly generating different credentials. In thisscenario, there is a possibility that a first controller will identifyan applicable time interval, as measured by the local time of the firstcontroller, but a second controller that has a different local time maydetermine that a different interval is applicable, based on the localtime of the second controller.

If the first controller and the second controller determine thatdifferent time intervals are applicable, then the first controller andthe second controller may supply different credentials at the sameabsolute time instance. As a result, an authentication functioninitiated based on credentials from one of the controllers may not yieldthe expected result if completed based on a credential from the othercontroller. For example, if a token is generated for a service based ona credential from a first controller and then supplied to a device thatattempts to validate the service based on the token and a credentialfrom the second controller, the result of the validation function may bea conclusion that the credential is not valid. Such a conclusion,resulting from the first controller and the second controller supplyingdifferent credentials at the same time, may lead to a failure toauthenticate and result in service disruptions.

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that such disruptiveresults may be avoided through controlling one or more of the devices inthe system to take actions that yield consistent results during a windowof time around transitions between intervals in which a differentcredential is valid. To support such actions, when controllers generatecredential information, each may make available a first credential and asecond credential. The first credential may represent a credential asapplicable in the current interval, as measured by the local time on thecontroller generating the credential. The second credential mayrepresent a credential as applicable in the immediately precedinginterval, as measured by the local time on the controller generating thecredential. In addition, the credential information may include anindication of whether the credential information was generated in awindow of time around a transition, or a transition interval, duringwhich different ones of the distributed controllers might, based ontheir local time references, conclude that they are operating indifferent time intervals.

Devices having access to this credential information may use theindication to select which of the credentials to use. The credentialselected additionally may depend on the nature of the authenticationfunction to be performed with the credential. For example, in a scenarioin which the indication information indicates that the credentials werenot generated in a transition interval, a device may select thecredential representing the credential applicable to the currentinterval, as determined by the controller generating the credentialinformation. This credential may be selected regardless of the nature ofthe authentication function to be performed.

However, if the credentials were generated during a transition interval,then a device may select a credential based on the nature of theauthentication function to be performed. If, for example, theauthentication function is an outbound function, such as a functionintended to generate a token by performing a cryptographic functionusing the credential, then the second credential may be selected duringthe transition interval. This selection may ensure that a devicereceiving the token can validate the token with any controller, evenones that have not yet transitioned to the new interval. Conversely, ifthe function is an inbound function, such as a function involving anattempt to validate a token provided by another device, then either thefirst credential or the second credential may be accepted as validatingthe token. Accordingly, selecting between the first and secondcredential based on which validates the token may avoid an incorrectresult if the token was generated with credentials from a controllerthat had not yet transitioned to the new interval.

Turning now to FIG. 1A, an exemplary system in which authenticationfunctions may be performed is illustrated. In this example, the systemis a distributed system containing devices that generate credentials andother devices that use those credentials. These devices are connected bya network such that they may exchange credential information and performother functions in accordance with their roles in the distributedsystem. It should be appreciated that, though devices generatingcredentials and those using credentials are illustrated as havingspecific, and different, roles within the distributed system, such adistinction is not a requirement of the invention. The role of a devicethat generates or uses credentials is not critical to the invention. Insome embodiments, for example, devices that generate credentials may usethem.

FIG. 1A is a simplified illustration of a distributed system 100consisting of one or more interconnected computing devices. Here, fourtypes of devices are shown: hosts, controllers, clients, and servers.The number and type of devices, however, are merely for illustrativepurposes and are not critical to the invention.

Hosts, such as hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂, and 102 ₃, are illustrated. Hosts maybe computing devices that, among other functions, provide one or moreservices to other computing devices. For example, a host may be a serverin an enterprise network, a database, or may be any other device thatprovides data and/or services to other computing devices.

FIG. 1A also illustrates multiple controller devices in system 100. Forsimplicity, two controllers, controller 104 ₁ and controller 104 ₂, areillustrated. The controllers may perform various functions, includingbut not limited to, controlling which devices have access to the networkor controlling one or more actions on other computing devices. As aspecific example, the controller devices may be domain controllers, suchas are known in the art for enterprise networks. Each of thesecontroller devices may be programmed to issue time-dependent credentialsfor one or more entities for use by itself or by other computingdevices. Such credentials may be used, among other reasons, forauthenticating an entity, which may be, for example, a user, an account,or a service. In the example of FIG. 1A, the entities for whichcredentials are issued may correspond to accounts used to control accessto the managed network interconnecting the devices forming thedistributed system. Each service executing on a host may execute undersuch an account such that each service may have an identity recognizedwithin the distributed system and for which credentials may be issued.

Other devices, either within or external to the distributed system, mayexchange data or services with hosts and/or controllers. For example,such a device may be a client 106 or a server 108, or any other devicethat requests services from or provides services to devices within thedistributed system 100. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1A, client106 may obtain an authorization token from controller 104 ₁ in order toestablish a secure connection with host 102 ₁. Conversely, a server 108may use controller 104 ₂ in order to validate tokens it receives fromhost 102 ₂.

In some embodiments of distributed system 100, one or more devices, suchas hosts or controllers, may replicate data and services. Replicateddevices may indicate that any one of a plurality of devices are able toperform a function. In such a scenario, although different devices mayhave different instances of data or a service, the goal of replicationmay be to allow one or more instances to provide consistent results toany given request at any given time.

A possible motivation for a replicated system, among other reasons, maybe to allow a request for a service to be routed to any device among aplurality of devices that provide the same data and/or service todistribute processing load over multiple devices. The requestor will notnecessarily know which particular device performs the service.Therefore, the requestor may not direct the request to a specific one ofthe devices in the distributed system. In such an exemplary scenario,one or more devices in the set of devices may execute service under thesame identity and may take actions to have access to consistentcredentials.

As an example of such a replicated system, in FIG. 1A, a databaseservice may run on hosts 102 ₁, 102 ₂, and 102 ₃ such that one or moreinstances of the database on the hosts may take actions to execute underthe same security principal at any point in time. In such an embodimentof a replicated system, one or more controllers 104 ₁ and/or 104 ₂ mayexecute a distributed credential generation service to attempt togenerate consistent credentials at any point in time.

The task of generating consistent credentials, however, may be achallenge in some distributed systems. For example, in some embodiments,called multi-master systems, the controllers may act as peers and eachmay generate its own credentials independently, according to its ownlocal clock and internal state. However, it should be appreciated thatthe present invention is not necessarily limited to multi-masterconfigurations. Alternatively, there may be a single (master) controllerwhich generates and distributes credentials to other (slave)controllers. Regardless of how controllers coordinate credentialgeneration, there may be a challenge of reconciling possiblyinconsistent credentials generated by different controllers and used bydifferent hosts. Inconsistencies may arise, for example, due todifferences in local time references between controllers, or delays intransmission, or other factors that may result in differences in localtimes as tracked by different controllers. In some embodiments,inconsistencies may be intentionally introduced into the system byspreading out over time the computational load of generatingcredentials.

FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C present examples of how inconsistent credentialinformation between controllers may lead to authentication failures. Itshould be appreciated, however, that these two examples are merelyrepresentative embodiments, and are in no way limiting. Inconsistenciesmay arise in any of a number of ways, and techniques as described hereinmay be applied to avoid service disruptions in these and other types ofsystems.

FIG. 1B shows a scenario of two different devices, acting as controllers104 ₁ and 104 ₂, participating in an authentication function. Each ofthese devices may be any suitable device that generates credentialinformation. In some embodiments, controllers 104 ₁ and 104 ₂ may beDomain Controllers. Alternatively or additionally, they may be KerberosKey Distribution Centers. It should be appreciated, however, thatdistributed system 100 is not necessarily limited to these choices, andmay be implemented by any suitable configuration of interconnectedcomputing devices exchanging information according to authenticationmethods.

In the example of FIG. 1B, a first controller 104 ₁ receives a request112 ₁ for an authentication function involving credentials. This requestmay have been randomly routed from a computing device 106, which may bea client acting on behalf of user 110, or may be any other devicerequesting an authentication function. In addition, this client may berequesting an authentication function for a particular entity, such asan account. The purpose of this authentication function may be to gainauthorization for a secure transaction with a computing device, such asdevice 102, which may be a host or any other device providing service.For example, the request 112 ₁ may be a request for controller 104 ₁ touse credential information to generate a ticket that the client 106 mayuse to access another service at host 102.

Alternatively, the request 112 ₁ may have been received by controller104 ₁ by any other suitable means, such as deterministic routing, andwith any other suitable purpose, such as authorizing an inbound request.In general, however, the request that a controller receives from adevice may be any suitable request for an authentication functioninvolving credentials.

Upon receiving request 112 ₁, controller 104 ₁ may determine thecredentials for the requested entity by using a number of means,including but not limited to, retrieving credential information from itslocal data store 113 ₁ or computing a credential generating function. Insome embodiments, this credential generating function may betime-dependent, and may depend on the local time as tracked bycontroller 104 ₁. Regardless of how the controller determines thiscredential information, it may return a suitable response 114 ₁ back tothe client 106. As an exemplary scenario, if the system utilizesKerberos-based authentication, response 114 ₁ may be a cryptographicfunction of the credential information containing an authenticationtoken and an encryption key.

Upon receiving response 114 ₁, in some embodiments, the client 106 maythen use the received information in a subsequent authenticationfunction that includes a request 116 routed to host 102, which may be adevice that provides a service. In this embodiment, the authenticationfunction may include authentication of device 106, but in otherembodiments, the authentication function may involve any suitablecryptographic function of the credentials.

Upon receiving request 116, host 102 may then attempt to authenticatethe request by sending a subsequent request 112 ₂ for an authenticationfunction to a second controller 104 ₂. For example, the nature of thisauthentication function may be, but is not limited to, the host 102accessing credential information to authenticate request 116. The secondcontroller may attempt to perform this authentication function bydetermining credential information for the same account that wasassociated with request 112 ₁. Controller 104 ₂ may make thisdetermination, for example, by reading from its local store 113 ₂ orcomputing a credential generating function.

Regardless of how controller 104 ₂ determines the credentialinformation, it may use this credential information to attempt anauthentication function and return a result 114 ₂ to the host 102. Thehost 102 may then return a reply 118 to client 106, either granting ordenying the authentication request, or any other suitable response.

In some embodiments, in order for the client 106 to receive service fromthe host 102, it may be required that the second controller 104 ₂ usecredential information that is consistent with credential informationused by the first controller 104 ₁. However, differences in internalstates in the first controller 104 ₁ and in the second controller 104 ₂may cause different controllers to have inconsistent credentialinformation, which may result in a failure to authenticate. For example,this may occur if the credentials are time-dependent and depend ondifferent local times on the first controller 104 ₁ and the secondcontroller 104 ₂.

The preceding example illustrated in FIG. 1B describes an example inwhich a host 102 may participate in an “inbound” authenticationfunction, or more generally, in any suitable function that involvesapplying a credential to an object received from another device. Theobject may be deemed authorized if the device performing theauthentication function determines that the object was generated by adevice using the same credentials as applied by the device performingthe authentication function. Authentication failures may arise when thehost 102 and the client 106 obtain inconsistent credential informationfor the same account from two different controllers. In this case, forexample, controllers 104 ₁ and 104 ₂ may generate time-dependentcredentials using local time references that are significantlydifferent.

As another example of how inconsistent credential information may causeauthentication failure, FIG. 1C illustrates a scenario of host 102subsequently sending a request 120 to another device 108. This may be arequest to access a service, such as data or applications, on device108, which may itself be a server or database or any other device thatprovides a service. This scenario may occur, for example, if the request120 from host 102 involves an “outbound” authentication function todevice 108.

The host 102 may send a request 112 ₂ for an authentication function tocontroller 104 ₂, with the purpose of gaining authorization for a securetransaction with a device 108. The controller 104 ₂ may perform theauthentication function either by using credentials from its local store113 ₂ or by computing a credential generating function, and subsequentlyreturn an appropriate response 114 ₂ to the host 102. Analogous to the“inbound” case of FIG. 1B, this response 114 ₂ may consist of an objectthat was encrypted using credentials, which the host 102 may send in arequest 120 to device 108, which may then attempt to acquireauthentication for that object.

In order to authenticate the received object, server 108 may send arequest 112 ₃ for an authentication function to a third controller, 104₃. As with controllers 104 ₁ and 104 ₂, this third controller 104 ₃ maydetermine credential information using a number of means, such asreading from its local store 113 ₃ or computing a credential generatingfunction. This credential generation process may be time-dependent suchthat the credentials may depend on the local time as tracked by thecontroller 104 ₃ generating the credentials. Based on the results ofthis authentication function, the controller 104 ₃ may then return aresponse 114 ₃ to device 108. Authentication failures may arise whencontrollers 104 ₂ and 104 ₃ use inconsistent credentials to performtheir respective authentication functions.

Both FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C show examples of how inconsistencies incredential information may lead to undesired authentication failures.Such inconsistencies in credential information may be caused by variousfactors. One possible reason for credential inconsistencies may be that,in some distributed systems, credentials may periodically change, thepurpose of which may be, among other reasons, to help maintain theirsecrecy. However, different credentials may be in used by differentparts of the system at the same time, creating inconsistencies that canlead to unintended authorization failures, even between devices thatreceived valid credentials.

FIG. 2A illustrates a timeline diagram of an exemplary controller 104with time-dependent credentials. In some embodiments, a particularcredential may be valid for only a certain length of time, and maychange after that time has expired. FIG. 2A illustrates three intervals,202 ₁, 202 ₂, and 202 ₃, which may be referred to as validity intervalsor rollover intervals, during which particular credentials may be valid.The number and name of such intervals, however, is not critical to theinvention. The length of such intervals may be any suitable duration,but may be several days or several weeks, depending on the applicationor service that is being secured. For example, more secure services mayhave more frequent credential renewals and shorter validity intervals.Moreover, the intervals of this type used for different entities may beof different durations and may start at different times.

In some embodiments, each validity interval, 202 ₁, 202 ₂, 202 ₃, may bepreceded and/or followed by a time at which credentials are changed,illustrated in FIG. 2A by transition times 204 ₁, 204 ₂, and 204 ₃.These transition times, the number and name of which are not critical tothe invention, may represent times at which there is a change from oldercredential information to newer credential information, or may representany other suitable change in credential information.

In some embodiments of a distributed system, these validity intervalsand transition times may be determined by a controller using refreshinformation associated with an account or other entity for which acredential is generated. In some embodiments, this refresh informationmay consist of a time between scheduled changes in credentialinformation. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the refresh informationmay also include the time of creation of an account or other entity, orany other suitable starting time for measuring these validity intervals.

In some embodiments, such as replicated systems, different controllersmay try to perform credential updates in a synchronous manner, so thatconsistent credentials are maintained throughout the distributed system.However, synchronous credential updates may be a challenge if there aredifferences in local times as tracked by different controllers. In sucha scenario, at any given time, some controllers may have oldercredentials while other controllers have newer credentials.

FIG. 2B illustrates one possible example of how differences in localtimes may cause inconsistencies in credential information. In thisexample, three controllers, 104 ₁, 104 ₂, and 104 ₃, are shown, althoughthe exact number is not critical to the invention. The controllers maydetermine scheduled times for credential rollover that are intended,relative to an absolute time scale, to occur at the same time. However,none of the controllers is operating relative to an absolute time scale,but rather, each is operating according to its own local time. Althoughthe distributed system may attempt to synchronize the local times of thecontrollers, for various reasons there may exist differences between thelocal times tracked by each of the controllers.

As a result, the controllers may experience credential transitions atdifferent times, which are denoted by times 204 ₁, 204 ₂, and 204 ₃.These times may represent possible transitions from one rolloverinterval to another rollover interval. As illustrated, the first andsecond rollover intervals for the first controller are labeled asintervals 202 ₁₁ and 202 ₁₂, for the second controller as intervals 202₂₁ and 202 ₂₂, and for the third controller as intervals 202 ₃₁ and 202₃₂, respectively.

The differences, or skews, between local clocks may be represented bydifferences in transition times at different controllers for the samescheduled transition. As illustrated, the difference in transition timesbetween the first controller 104 ₁ and second controller 104 ₂ isdenoted by time skew 212 ₁₂; between the first controller 104 ₁ andthird controller 104 ₃ denoted by time skew 212 ₁₃; and between thesecond controller 104 ₂ and third controller 104 ₃ denoted by time skew212 ₂₃. At time 204 ₁, when the first controller 104 ₁ may just begin totransition from one credential to the next credential, the secondcontroller 104 ₂ may already have transitioned to the next credential,while the third controller 104 ₃ may still be using the previouscredential.

As illustrated, in some embodiments, there may exist an interval of timearound a scheduled transition during which a request for credentials, ifprocessed by different controllers, may return different results. Suchinconsistencies may lead to an unintended authorization failure. Itshould be noted, however, that FIG. 2B represents just one possibleembodiment of how inconsistent credentials may exist at differentcontrollers.

FIG. 2C illustrates how, in some embodiments, a controller may utilizedifferential processing of credentials near a vicinity of transitiontimes to avoid unintended authorization failures. In some embodiments, acontroller may divide its timeline 210 into discrete units of anothertype of interval. This type of interval, which may be referred to as“epochs,” may be of fixed duration, which may be shorter than thevalidity intervals, although the exact name and duration is not criticalto this invention. For simplicity, in FIG. 2C, only the first two epochsare labeled, labeled as 208 ₁ and 208 ₂.

Each controller may track time in terms of these epochs. The tracking ofepochs may be generally synchronized, in any suitable way, across allthe controllers. Accordingly, there will be corresponding epochs acrossall of the controllers. However, because each controller uses its ownlocal time to determine the start and stop of each epoch, the epochswill be subject to skews that are similar to the skews illustrated inFIG. 2B.

Each controller may measure time relative to these epochs. For example,each validity interval may start and stop at a time aligned with thebeginning of an epoch. In some embodiments, transition times maycorrespond to beginning of epochs. As illustrated, transition times 204₁, 204 ₂, and 204 ₃ correspond to the beginning of epochs 3, 6, and 9.In some embodiments, a validity interval may be expressed as an integernumber of epochs. In this example, each validity interval consists ofthree epochs, but the actual number of epochs per validity interval isnot critical to the invention.

In some embodiments, around each transition time of a credential, thecontroller may designate a certain window of time, or a transitioninterval. Three such transition intervals are shown in FIG. 2C, labeled216 ₁, 216 ₂, and 216 ₃, although the actual number of such transitionintervals may depend on the number of corresponding transitions. Atransition interval may be defined in a number of ways. As an example, atransition interval may be determined by all times that are less than athreshold amount of time from a scheduled transition between credentialvalidity intervals.

The threshold may be set to ensure that, regardless of any clock skewthat may exist across controllers, by the threshold amount of timebefore the scheduled transition time on any of the controllers, none ofthe other controllers will have experienced a corresponding transitionto new credentials. Likewise, by the threshold amount of time after thescheduled transition time on any of the controllers, all of the othercontrollers will have experienced a corresponding transition to newcredentials.

In some embodiments, the threshold may be defined based on an estimateof the maximum skew between any two controllers. For example, FIG. 2Billustrates a maximum clock skew 218 which, in FIG. 2B, corresponds tothe skew between controllers 104 ₁ and 104 ₃. Determining the maximumclock skew 218 may be done in a number of ways, including but notlimited to, controllers periodically polling an authoritative timesource, and taking the difference between the time of the firstcontroller poll and the time of the last controller poll. Regardless ofhow the maximum skew 218 is estimated, it may be used to designate athreshold amount of time around a transition time.

The threshold may be determined in a number of manners, such that it maydesignate a transition interval large enough so that outside of thetransition interval, no unintended authorization failures occur if anydevice assumes that all controllers have the same credentials. Moregenerally, the threshold may be used in any appropriate way to designatea transition interval such that devices may generate and/or usecredentials differentially inside and outside of the transitioninterval.

In some embodiments, the duration of the transition interval may dependon the way credentials are used. In embodiments in which a device usescredentials differently before a scheduled transition than after, thetransition interval may extend for different amounts of time before andafter a scheduled transition. Accordingly, it is not a requirement thatthe transition interval be symmetrical to avoid unintended failures ofauthentication.

For example, a first device, upon a failure of an authenticationfunction involving an object generated by a second device, may repeatthe authentication function using the immediately prior credential. Ifthe second device had not yet transitioned and generated the object withthe prior credential, the authentication will succeed. Similarly, if anydevice that has just transitioned to a new credential continues to usethe immediately prior credential until the end of its transitioninterval, any other device—whether or not the device has transitioned tothe new credential—will be able to successfully complete authenticationfunctions. With this protocol for using credentials, each controller mayonly need to track the transition interval following a scheduledtransition. In other words, in this embodiment, the transition intervalmay extend only to times after a scheduled transition time, but notbefore.

Regardless of the length and symmetry of the transition interval, insideof this transition interval, controllers may not have consistentcredential information. For example, some controllers may have oldcredentials while others may have new credentials, or there may be otherforms of discrepancy between credential information.

Therefore, in some embodiments, it is within these particular transitionintervals that computing devices may selectively use time-dependentcredential information in such a way as to ensure that other devices maybe able to successfully perform authentication functions, despitepossible inconsistencies in the credential information.

In some embodiments, the duration of a transition interval may besmaller than the duration of an epoch, as illustrated in FIG. 2C. Forexample, the length of a transition interval may be several minutes orseconds, while the length of an epoch may be several hours or days. Itshould be appreciated, however, that the exact duration of epochs andthresholds is not critical to the invention, and either may take on anyappropriate value depending on the nature of the distributed system.

While the exact nature of credential information may depend on thesecurity protocol utilized, in some embodiments, the credentialinformation may consist of three types of information: a firstcredential, corresponding to a first validity interval; a secondcredential, corresponding to a second validity interval preceding thefirst validity interval; and an indication of whether the local time ofthe computing device that issued the credentials is within a thresholdamount of time of transition between the first and second intervals.This later type of information may be an example of information thatindicates that the first credential was generated, or possibly supplied,during a transition interval.

Determining the first and second validity intervals that are used tocompute the first and second credentials may depend on the time of thecredential generation. In some embodiments, the first interval may bethe current interval (the interval that includes time of credentialgeneration). Alternatively, in some embodiments the first interval maybe the next interval (the interval after the one that includes the timeof credential generation).

In some embodiments, the indication of whether the local time ofcomputing device that issued the credential is within a threshold amountof time of a transition between the first and second validity intervalsmay consist of one or more time indication values, or timing values. Insome embodiments, there may be a first time indication value and asecond time indication value. The number of such values, however, maydiffer depending on the nature of the authentication configuration used.

For example, the first time indication value may represent a projectedtime at which an updated credential can be obtained from any of a numberof computing devices. For simplicity, this first time indication valuemay be referred to as a “come-back” hint (or CB for short). In someembodiments, the second time indication value may represent a projectedtime before which none of the controllers will supply an updatedcredential. For simplicity, this second time indication value may bereferred to as a “no-change” hint (or NC for short). These values may bedetermined in any suitable way.

FIG. 2D and Tables 1 and 2 show possible embodiments of how a computingdevice may issue time-dependent credential information. In theseparticular embodiments, the transition intervals are asymmetricallypositioned to precede transition times, but in general the transitionintervals may have any type of symmetry with respect to transitiontimes.

Table 1 represents an embodiment in which a computing device maygenerate new or replace stale credential information. This scenario mayoccur, for example, if the credentials have not been accessed in asufficiently long time. Such a determination may be based on variouscriteria, for example one criteria may be that the credentialinformation in store corresponds to intervals prior to interval 202 ₁ inFIG. 2D. Irrespective of the specific criteria or motivation, acomputing device may at any point decide to generate new credentialinformation according to Table 1.

Table 2 represents a scenario in which a computing device may return theexisting stored credential information, or may also possibly generatenew credentials. This scenario may occur, for example, if the storedcredential information exists and is deemed as being current, accordingto any number of suitable criteria, such as part of the credentialinformation corresponding to interval 202 ₁ in FIG. 2D. Regardless ofthe specific criteria or motivation, a computing device may at any timedecide to return credential information based on Table 2.

TABLE 1 Generating new or replacing stale credential information.Validity interval First time Second time Inter- used to computeindication value indication value val credential (come-back hint)(no-change hint) Write? 220₁ 202₁ 204₂ 222₂ Yes 216₂ 202₁ 204₂ Currenttime Yes 220₂ 202₂ 204₃ 222₃ Yes

TABLE 2 Replacing existing current credential information. Validityinterval First time Second time Inter- used to compute indication valueindication value val credential (come-back hint) (no-change hint) Write?220₁ 202₁ 204₂ 222₂ Yes 216₂ 202₂ 204₂ 222₃ No 220₂ 202₂ 204₃ 222₃ Yes

In both Tables 1 and 2, the first column shows three possible intervals,220 ₁, 216 ₂, and 220 ₂ as illustrated in FIG. 2D, which represent threedisjoint intervals of time during which credential generations mayoccur. The number and nature of such intervals, however, is chosen forillustrative purposes and is not critical to the invention. The firstrow of Tables 1 and 2 corresponds to an interval 220 ₁ before atransition interval. The second row corresponds to a interval 216 ₂,which is a transition interval. The third row corresponds to an interval220 ₂ after a transition interval.

The second column of Tables 1 and 2 shows the validity interval used bythe computing device to compute the credential information. The thirdand fourth columns show different assignments for the two timeindication values. Although in this example a time indication value is anominal time, alternatively a time indication value may an interval oftime starting from the current time, or any other indication of a timeinstance. The last column of Tables 1 and 2 denotes whether thecredential information generated by the computing device may be storedlocally and replicated out to other computing devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates one possible embodiment of a method 302 of operatinga computing device that may use Tables 1 and 2 to issue time-dependentcredential information. The computing device may be a controller thatgenerates credential information in response to a request forcredentials, 112 ₂, which may have been sent by a host or in general byany device requesting credentials. Alternatively, method 302 may be usedto generate credentials for other authentication requests, such asrequests to validate credentials, or requests to use credentials, or anyother suitable authentication function involving credentials.

Moreover, it is not a requirement that the request be received over anetwork or from another device. The request may be received, forexample, at a component that generates credentials from anothercomponent on the same device that will use the credentials or thatmanages credentials. As a specific example, in some embodiments, therequest may be generated by a component that tracks scheduled rollovertimes for credentials of multiple entities and requests new credentials.

In FIG. 3, a computing device, such as a controller, that issuescredential information may first determine in 304 whether thecredentials in its local store are stale. Such a determination may bemade, for example, by checking if the stored first credential does notcorrespond to the current validity interval. If the credentials in storeare determined to be stale, then the controller may compute the firstand second credentials, as in acts 306 ₁ and 306 ₂, corresponding to thecurrent validity interval and the preceding validity interval,respectively. The scenario of stale credentials corresponds to Table 1,in which the current validity interval is either interval 202 ₁ orinterval 202 ₂, depending on when the request for credential arrived, asdetermined by the first column of the table.

Alternatively, the credentials may be deemed to be “a bit” stale, forexample if the first stored credential corresponds to the interval priorto the current interval. In this case, the credentials may be updated byassigning the stored first credential to be the new stored secondcredential, and computing a new first credential to store based on thecurrent validity interval. In this way, fewer computations may be usedas compared to the case of when both stored credentials are stale.

In FIG. 3, the controller may then proceed, in act 308, to write thesenewly-computed credentials to its local store and send replicationupdates to other controllers, corresponding to the last column ofTable 1. This act may be performed in a distributed system in whichcontrollers replicate information as part of managing a distributedsystem in which all controllers in the distributed system can performfunctions consistently. However, in other embodiments, such replicationupdates may be done selectively or may be omitted entirely. Suchreplication updates, when they are performed, for example, may involvesending the newly-computed credentials to other controllers, so thatthey may write those credentials to their local stores.

Subsequently, in act 311, the controller determines whether it is withina transition interval. If so, then it sets the second time indicationvalue (the NC hint) to represent the current time, as in act 310 ₁. InTable 1, this corresponds to a request arriving in interval 216 ₂. Thistime indication value indicates to the requestor that the credential maychange at any time in the near future because the controller is withinthe transition interval and therefore other devices may update theircredentials during this transition interval. Otherwise, if thecontroller determines that it is not within a threshold interval, thenin act 310 ₂ the controller sets the second time value to represent thestarting time of the next threshold. In Table 1, this corresponds to therequest arriving in either interval 220 ₁ or 220 ₂.

Regardless of how the second time indication value is determined, in act309, the controller sets the first time indication value (the CB hint)to represent the end of the current validity interval. This indicates tothe requestor that it may request new credentials after the currentvalidity interval ends.

Finally, upon determination of credential information, the controllermay return that information to the requesting device, as shown in act114 ₂ of FIG. 3.

Alternatively, if the controller determined in act 304 that the storedcredentials are not stale, corresponding to Table 2, then it may use thestored credentials or else it may compute new credentials, based onchecking in act 312 whether it is operating within a transitioninterval. The determination in act 312 may be done, for example, bychecking whether the local time indicates that the controller is withina threshold amount of time of a scheduled transition time. If thecontroller determines that it is within a threshold, then the controllermay use the first credential in store as a new second credential, as inact 316, and it may compute a new first credential based on the nextinterval, as in act 306 ₃. In Table 2, this scenario corresponds to arequest arriving in interval 216 ₂.

However, in this scenario the controller may not update thesenewly-determined credentials to its store and/or may not replicate thesecredentials to other controllers, as denoted by the “No” in the lastcolumn of Table 2 corresponding to the row of interval 216 ₂. Byforegoing or deferring storage and/or replication of credentialsgenerated during a transition interval, inconsistencies with credentialsfrom controllers that may not have yet updated their credentials at acorresponding scheduled transition time may be avoided.

The second time indication value is then set to represent the beginningof the next transition interval, as in act 310 ₂. In Table 2, thisscenario occurs when the request arrives in interval 216 ₂, in whichcase the next starting time of a transition interval is 222 ₃.

Subsequently, in step 309 the controller sets the first time indicationvalue (the CB hint) to represent the end of the current validityinterval. This indicates to the requestor that it may request newcredentials after the current validity interval ends.

Finally, upon determination of credential information, the controllerreturns that information to the requesting device, as shown in act 114₂.

If the controller determines in act 312 that it is not within athreshold, then in act 314, it uses the first and second credentialsfrom its store. In doing so, the controller may be assuming that,outside of the transition interval, other controllers all share the samecredentials as itself. Furthermore, the controller sets the second timeindication value (the NC hint) to represent the time until the beginningof the next transition interval, as in act 310 ₂. In Table 2, thisscenario can occur if the request arrives in either interval 220 ₁ or220 ₂, in which case the next transition interval will begin either attime 222 ₂ or 222 ₃, respectively.

Subsequently, in step 309 the controller sets the first time indicationvalue (the CB hint) to represent the end of the current validityinterval. This indicates to the requestor that it may request newcredentials after the current validity interval ends.

Finally, upon determination of credential information, the controllerreturns that information to the requesting device, as shown in act 114₂.

In the preceding discussion, the credentials consisted of a firstcredential, a second credential, and first and second time indicationvalues. However, it is appreciated that there may be other suitableembodiments for credential information.

The preceding described some possible embodiments of how a computingdevice, such as a controller, may issue credentials differentially basedupon the timing of a request for credentials. The following discussionpresents some embodiments of how a host computing device may use thecredential information provided by the controller to differentially usecredentials based on timing and/or a nature of an authenticationfunction to be performed using the credentials.

FIG. 4A shows acts in a representative embodiment of how a device, suchas a host, may differentially use credentials based on the timing andnature of an authentication function. In this particular example, thehost may receive a request from another device to authenticate an objectthat was sent by that device. This request may be, for example, an“inbound” request for authentication from a client, as shown in FIG. 1B.

Regardless of the nature of the request, in act 112 ₂, the host mayfirst request credentials from a controller. In a scenario in which therequest is directed to a service executing on the host, the request maybe for credentials associated with an account under which an instance ofthat service executes on the host. However, the specific reason for thecredential request is not important to the invention, as embodiments maybe implemented for any number of uses. Moreover, it is not a requirementthat the credentials be requested to process every request. Becausecredentials are valid for a validity interval, act 112 ₂ may beperformed when the host does not have current credentials.

Regardless of when the request is made, the host may then receive aresponse that contains credential information in step 114 ₂. Thiscredential information may include a first and second credential.

The host may then proceed to check if either the first or secondcredential validates the inbound request, in steps 404 ₁ and 404 ₂,respectively. This may be done, for example, by applying a cryptographicfunction to the received object, using a credential. If eithercredential validates the request, then the host may decide to perform anaction in 406 in response to the requesting device. For example, thisaction may be to grant authorization for access to particular data orservices.

Otherwise, if neither the first nor second credential validates theobject sent by the requestor, then the host may perform another type ofaction in 408. For example, this may be to deny authorization toparticular data or service.

Regardless of the action taken, the host may then send back a responseto the requestor in step 118. In this scenario, the response indicateswhether the request may indicate whether an entity generating therequest was authorized to receive a service provided by the host. Itshould be appreciated, however, that the specific authenticationfunction performed is not critical to the invention. Rather thanvalidating a request, the host, for example, may use the credentials todecrypt a document or perform any other suitable authenticationfunction.

FIG. 4B shows a scenario in which a host may begin another type ofauthentication function. This authentication function, for example, maybe designed to generate an object, using credentials for a particularentity, that will be authenticated by another device. The object may beany suitable object, whether a single value, a blob (Binary LargeOBject), or data in any suitable form. Examples of objects may includetokens, certificates, encrypted challenge phrases or signed challengephrases. In this example, this process may occur during an “outbound”authentication request, as shown in FIG. 1C, in which the host requestsa secure transaction from another device, such as a server.

Regardless of the exact nature of this authentication function, in step112 ₂, the host may request credentials from a controller, and receiveback credential information in step 114 ₂.

The host may then behave differently based on whether the controller wasin a transition interval. A determination of whether the controller wasin the transition interval may be made in any suitable way. At act 410,a determination may be made whether, at the time at which thecredentials were generated, the controller was within some thresholdamount of time of a scheduled transition time. This determination may bemade, for example, by using the indication in the received credentialinformation. In some embodiments, the indication may have two timeindication values, in which case the host may determine that thecontroller is within a threshold time of the scheduled transition if thefirst time indication value (CB hint) is less than the second timeindication value (NC hint). For example, in Table 2, this occurs in therow corresponding to interval 216 ₂. Regardless of how the determinationin act 410 is made, the host may then generate a cryptographic functionusing either the first or second credential received from thecontroller.

If the host determines that the controller is not in a transitioninterval, then the host may, in act 412 ₁, use the first credential in acryptographic function to generate a value that may be authenticated byanother device. Alternatively, if the host determines that thecontroller is within a threshold, then in act 412 ₂, the host may usethe second credential in a cryptographic function to generate a valuethat may be authenticated by another device. The first credential maycorrespond to a current validity, as measured by the device thatgenerated the credential. The second credential may correspond to thepreceding validity interval.

Regardless of which credential was used, the host may then send thegenerated value to another device in act 120 to request someauthentication function.

In some embodiments, controllers may renew credentials for each accountthat they manage such that current credentials are available in eachvalidity interval. For controllers that manage large numbers ofcredentials, the computational load and/or other resource usage within adistributed system may be very large when credentials need to change.Such would be the case if multiple entities require changes at the sametime. Computing new credentials on each controller may similarly consumesubstantial system resources. Even though there may be some skew in theclocks of the various controllers, such a scenario might create a“replication storm” as multiple controllers computed credentials formultiple entities, potentially drawing on system resources.

In some embodiments, credentials may be renewed in a way to reduce thelikelihood and/or severity of a replication storm. FIGS. 5A and 5B showtwo possible embodiments for renewing credentials: controller-drivenrenewals and host-requested renewals. It is appreciated, however, thatthis invention is not necessarily limited to these two choices and thesystem may provide any suitable means for renewing credentials. In someembodiments, the times of renewal are offset by random delays from thescheduled renewal times. The purpose of this may be, among otherreasons, to avoid excessive replication updates between controllers,which may all try to update credentials for a given entity at the sametime.

FIG. 5A shows one possible embodiment of a controller-driven credentialrenewal. In such an embodiment, the controller runs a task at thebeginning of every epoch to update all expired credentials, as in act502. For simplicity, the FIG. 5A illustrates a method of having aseparate process running for every entity to check at every epochwhether the credential for that entity has expired. Alternatively, asingle process on the controller may periodically check all entitiesevery epoch.

Regardless of how the controller triggers credential updates formultiple entities, it may schedule a renewal time for an entity'scredential at the beginning of the next epoch plus a random offset, asin act 504. The random offset may be of any suitable duration. In someembodiments, the duration of the random offset may be between an upperand lower limit to ensure that, when a value is randomly selectedbetween these limits, the times at which different controllers arescheduled to update the same credential, is spread over an interval thatwill exceed the amount of time for any controller to compute andreplicate credentials.

As a result, while the controller is waiting, there is a probabilitythat it may receive replication updates from other controllers in act506, which would avoid the need for that controller to update the samecredentials. If so, the controller may write that update to its localstore, as in act 508. If a controller receives an update for thecredential it was scheduled to update, it need not generate thatcredential and instead may wait until the end of the current epoch inact 510, before proceeding to schedule the next renewal.

Similarly, during the delay, the controller may receive, and thereforerespond to, a request for credentials from a device, such as a host, inact 512. In this case, because the controller has not yet obtainedcredentials for its current validity interval, it may obtain the latestcredentials, such as by performing the process 302, as described abovein connection with FIG. 3. The controller may then proceed to replicatethe credentials in its store to other controllers in act 518, and thenreturn to schedule the next renewal.

It should be appreciated, however, that in process 302, the controllermay or may not have actually computed new credentials and may or may nothave written new credentials to its store. In some embodiments, if newcredentials were not written to the local store, then the controller maychoose to skip the replication of act 518 and simply schedule the nextrenewal.

Otherwise, if the controller has received no such interruptions in act512, then in act 514 it checks to see if it has reached its scheduledtime of renewal, and if not, then it returns to waiting in act 516.

If the controller does reach its scheduled time of renewal in act 514,then it may then proceed to check in act 304 whether the storedcredentials are stale. If so, then the controller may compute newcredentials for the current and previous interval in act 306, which issubsequently described in detail in FIG. 6. The controller may then sendreplication updates of its local store to other controllers in act 518,the purpose of which may be to update them with the newly-computedcredentials. Afterwards, the controller may then proceed to schedule itsnext credential renewal.

If the controller determines in act 304 that its credentials in storeare not stale, then this may indicate that it has not reached atransition time yet, so there is no need to renew. In this case, it goesback and schedules the next renewal check.

The preceding discussion described the case when a controller initiatesits own credential renewal for a given entity, such as a user's accountor any other suitable entity that may have credentials. FIG. 5B shows analternative embodiment in which credential renewals are initiated by ahost in act 520. FIG. 5B illustrates processing that may be performed ona host.

In this case, a host schedules its request for new credentials at a timeprovided by the indication in the credential information associated withthe entity. For example, the indication may have a first time indicationvalue (the “come-back” hint). Regardless of how the host determines thistime, it may schedule a time for renewal by adding a random offset tothe time provided by the indication, as in act 522. This random valuemay have any range of durations, including the range of durations of therandom value in FIG. 5A, and may be selected in any suitable way. Thehost may then wait until that time to request an update from thecontroller.

While it is waiting, in step 524, the host may experience anauthentication failure. In some embodiments, the host could request thecurrent credentials to ensure that the failure was not the result of thehost applying out of date credentials in attempting to perform anauthentication function. However, in some embodiments, the host mayselectively request updated credentials as a way to reduce load on thesystem. For example, the host may only request updated credentials if itis possible for it to receive different credentials than it already has.Accordingly, the response of the host to the authentication failure maydepend on its current time relative to the time at which it mostrecently received updated credentials. If the authentication failureoccurs an amount of time after the host most recently received updatedcredentials that is between the second time indication value (the “nochange” hint) and its scheduled time for requesting a renewal, the hostrequests new credentials without waiting for the scheduled renewal time.The host may instead immediately request a renewal from the controller,which may be performed in accordance with the process 302 (FIG. 3).

Otherwise, the host proceeds to check if it has reached the time torenew at act 526. If it has not, then in act 528 the host returns towait for the scheduled time. Otherwise, once it reaches the scheduledtime to renew in step 526, the host may request the latest credentialsfrom a controller in step 112 ₂ and obtain the latest credentials instep 114 ₂. The host may then proceed to schedule the next request forrenewal, based on the “come-back” hint that it received in the latestcredentials, such as is illustrated by the process returning to act 522.

FIG. 6 shows method 306 of operating a computing device, such as acontroller, to generate time-dependent credentials for an entity. Anentity may be, for example, an account for a particular user or service.The type of entity for which credentials are generated, however, is notcritical to the invention. This process may be repeated for any one ormore entities at any one or more time and may generate differentcredentials for each of these entities in every validity interval—or atleast with such randomness that it would be difficult to ascertain apattern that would allow credentials generated for any entity at anytime to be ascertained in an unauthorized manner.

In some embodiments, each account may be associated with informationused in the generation of credentials. This information may includeinformation that identifies the account and timing information thatallows any controller to determine the start of a validity interval forthe account. This information may include, for example: an accountidentifier A, an account creation epoch TC(A), and a credential validityinterval, L(A). The names and numbers of these pieces of accountinformation, however, may be any suitable value. Furthermore, the terms“time” and “epoch” may be used interchangeably here, as time may bemeasured in units of epochs or any other suitable unit.

In some embodiments, the controller may generate credentials using a“seed key” and the account identifier. The seed key may be implemented,for example, by using a global “master key” that may be known by one ormore controllers. Such a master key may be provided in a number ofdifferent ways. For example, there may be a key distribution service(KDS), or any other suitable device, that provides a common master keyto all controllers. This master key also may be renewed from time totime. For example, in some embodiments, there may be a refreshed masterkey associated with every time epoch.

In FIG. 6, the controller may begin computing credentials in act 600.This computation may result from a request for credentials that was sentby another device (as in FIG. 3), or it may result from an internallyscheduled credential renewal (as in FIG. 5A). Though, method 600 may beperformed at any suitable time in response to any suitable event. For agiven request for credentials in epoch T, the controller may determinein act 602 the validity interval and account creation time of therequested entity. This information may be determined in any suitableway. It may be read form a data store, which may be maintained by thecontroller or at any suitable location within the distributed system.Alternatively, some or all of this information may be provided with arequest for credentials.

Regardless of how this information is obtained, in act 604, thecontroller may compute the first epoch of the validity interval thatcontains epoch T. This value of the first epoch, which may be identifiedby an identifier EID (for Epoch ID) may be computed, for example, byusing the formula:

EID=T−(T−TC)mod(L)  (1)

Here, the mathematical operation “(x)mod(y)” denotes the remainder ofdividing an integer x by an integer y.

Regardless of how EID is computed, there may be one EID associated witheach validity interval, in such a way that EID provides a mappingbetween any epoch T and the corresponding validity interval thatcontains epoch T. In some embodiments, the EID may correspond to thefirst epoch of a validity interval, but in other embodiments, the EIDmay correspond to another appropriately defined identifier of a validityinterval.

Regardless of how the epoch EID is determined, in some embodiments, thecontroller may then proceed, in act 606, to access the global master keyassociated with epoch EID. Then in act 608, the controller may use thatmaster key, along with the account ID, to compute the seed key.

The aforementioned steps describe only one example of generating a seedkey that is deterministically computable from a master key usingknowledge of only a given time and account ID. Such an approach mayallow one or more controllers to generate the same seed key in adistributed manner. But regardless of how a seed key is generated, itmay be used to generate credentials, in act 610, that have configurablelifetimes and are periodically updated in response to externalevents—either requests for latest credentials driven by member hosts, orscheduled updates that run on domain controllers

Computing a credential for a preceding interval may be done in similarfashion by subtracting the validity interval L from the current epoch T,and running the credential generation algorithm for time (T−L). Inparticular, the EID used for the second credential may be computed bythe following formula:

EID=(T−L)−(T−L−TC)mod(L)  (2)

As before, the mathematical operation “(x)mod(y)” denotes the remainderof dividing an integer x by an integer y. Equations (1) and (2)represent two possible embodiments of determining identifiers forcurrent and previous validity intervals corresponding to a giveninstance of time. However, the invention is not necessarily limited tothese particular equations, and may use any other suitable means forcomputing identifiers for validity intervals for a given account atgiven instances of time.

These preceding steps offered some possible embodiments of how acontroller may compute a first credential and second credential for anygiven time, based only upon knowledge of the account identity and acryptographically secure master key that may be globally shared amongcontrollers. However, it should be appreciated that the invention is notnecessarily limited to these particular embodiments, and there may beother suitable ways to determine a time-dependent credential that isvalid at a given instance of time.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment700 on which the invention may be implemented. This computing system mayrepresent any of the computing devices in the distributed system 100.For example, it may represent a host, such as 102 ₁, a controller, suchas 104 ₁, a client 106, a server 108, or any suitable device operatingin the distributed system. The computing system environment 700 is onlyone example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Neither should the computing environment 700 be interpretedas having any dependency or requirement relating to any one orcombination of components illustrated in the exemplary operatingenvironment 700.

The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include,but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-heldor laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems,set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environmentsthat include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

The computing environment may execute computer-executable instructions,such as program modules. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 7, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of acomputer 710. Components of computer 710 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 720, a system memory 730, and a system bus721 that couples various system components including the system memoryto the processing unit 720. The system bus 721 may be any of severaltypes of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architecturesinclude Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video ElectronicsStandards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus.

Computer 710 typically includes a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 710 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such as computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data.Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM,EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can accessed by computer 710. Communication media typicallyembodies computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier waveor other transport mechanism and includes any information deliverymedia. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one ormore of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The system memory 730 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 731and random access memory (RAM) 732. A basic input/output system 733(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 710, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 731. RAM 732 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 720. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 7 illustrates operating system 734, applicationprograms 735, other program modules 736, and program data 737.

The computer 710 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 7 illustrates a hard disk drive 741 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 751that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 752,and an optical disk drive 755 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 756 such as a CD ROM or other optical media.Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storagemedia that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include,but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards,digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solidstate ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 741 is typically connectedto the system bus 721 through an non-removable memory interface such asinterface 740, and magnetic disk drive 751 and optical disk drive 755are typically connected to the system bus 721 by a removable memoryinterface, such as interface 750.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 7, provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 710. In FIG. 7, for example, hard disk drive 741 is illustratedas storing operating system 744, application programs 745, other programmodules 746, and program data 747. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 734, applicationprograms 735, other program modules 736, and program data 737. Operatingsystem 744, application programs 745, other program modules 746, andprogram data 747 are given different numbers here to illustrate that, ata minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter commands andinformation into the computer 710 through input devices such as akeyboard 762 and pointing device 761, commonly referred to as a mouse,trackball or touch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit720 through a user input interface 760 that is coupled to the systembus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such asa parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor791 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus721 via an interface, such as a video interface 790. In addition to themonitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices suchas speakers 797 and printer 796, which may be connected through a outputperipheral interface 795.

The computer 710 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer780. The remote computer 780 may be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, andtypically includes many or all of the elements described above relativeto the computer 710, although only a memory storage device 781 has beenillustrated in FIG. 7. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 7include a local area network (LAN) 771 and a wide area network (WAN)773, but may also include other networks. Such networking environmentsare commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranetsand the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 710 is connectedto the LAN 771 through a network interface or adapter 770. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 710 typically includes amodem 772 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN773, such as the Internet. The modem 772, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 721 via the user inputinterface 760, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 710, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 7 illustrates remoteapplication programs 785 as residing on memory device 781. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisinvention, it is to be appreciated that various alterations,modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled inthe art.

Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to bepart of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit andscope of the invention. Further, though advantages of the presentinvention are indicated, it should be appreciated that not everyembodiment of the invention will include every described advantage. Someembodiments may not implement any features described as advantageousherein and in some instances. Accordingly, the foregoing description anddrawings are by way of example only.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention can beimplemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, the software code can be executed on anysuitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in asingle computer or distributed among multiple computers. Such processorsmay be implemented as integrated circuits, with one or more processorsin an integrated circuit component. Though, a processor may beimplemented using circuitry in any suitable format.

Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied in anyof a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. Additionally, acomputer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as acomputer but with suitable processing capabilities, including a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone or any other suitable portable orfixed electronic device.

Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices. Thesedevices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface.Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interfaceinclude printers or display screens for visual presentation of outputand speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentationof output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a userinterface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touchpads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receiveinput information through speech recognition or in other audible format.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in anysuitable form, including as a local area network or a wide area network,such as an enterprise network or the Internet. Such networks may bebased on any suitable technology and may operate according to anysuitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks orfiber optic networks.

Also, the various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, the invention may be embodied as a computer readablestorage medium (or multiple computer readable media) (e.g., a computermemory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs (CD), optical discs,digital video disks (DVD), magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuitconfigurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductordevices, or other tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one ormore programs that, when executed on one or more computers or otherprocessors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments ofthe invention discussed above. As is apparent from the foregoingexamples, a computer readable storage medium may retain information fora sufficient time to provide computer-executable instructions in anon-transitory form. Such a computer readable storage medium or mediacan be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereoncan be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processorsto implement various aspects of the present invention as discussedabove. As used herein, the term “computer-readable storage medium”encompasses only a computer-readable medium that can be considered to bea manufacture (i.e., article of manufacture) or a machine. Alternativelyor additionally, the invention may be embodied as a computer readablemedium other than a computer-readable storage medium, such as apropagating signal.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of the present invention asdiscussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that accordingto one aspect of this embodiment, one or more computer programs thatwhen executed perform methods of the present invention need not resideon a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modularfashion amongst a number of different computers or processors toimplement various aspects of the present invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconveys relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Various aspects of the present invention may be used alone, incombination, or in a variety of arrangements not specifically discussedin the embodiments described in the foregoing and is therefore notlimited in its application to the details and arrangement of componentsset forth in the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings.For example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined in anymanner with aspects described in other embodiments.

Also, the invention may be embodied as a method, of which an example hasbeen provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be orderedin any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed inwhich acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, whichmay include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown assequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinalterm) to distinguish the claim elements.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of“including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” andvariations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

1. A method of operating a computing device in a plurality of computingdevices to generate time-dependent credentials for each of a pluralityof accounts, the method comprising: tracking time to identify aplurality of intervals; with at least one processor, generating acredential for an account by: determining for the account an interval ofthe plurality of intervals at which the credential for the account wasmost recently scheduled to change based on credential refreshinformation associated with the account; determining a key for thedetermined interval; and computing the credential as a function of atleast the key and information associated with the account.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein: the credential is further computed as a function ofan interval of the plurality of intervals for which the key is computed.3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the credential refresh informationcomprises a time, measured in a number of intervals, between scheduledchanges in the credential.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein: thecredential refresh information further comprises a time of creation ofthe account.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the determined intervalcomprises an integer multiple of the time between scheduled changes inthe credential following an interval of the plurality of intervalsduring which the time of creation occurred.
 6. The method of claim 3,wherein: generating the credential comprises generating a currentcredential; generating the credential for the account further comprisesgenerating a prior credential by: determining a prior time at which theprior credential was scheduled to be in effect; determining a secondinterval of the plurality of intervals preceding the prior time at whichthe credential for the account was scheduled to change; determining asecond seed key for the second determined interval; and computing thecredential as a function of at least the determined second seed key andinformation associated with the account.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein: the computing device is one of a plurality of computing devicesin a distributed system; the method further comprises providing anindication of whether the local time of the computing device is within athreshold amount of time of a transition, the indication comprising: afirst value indicating a first amount of time which, if credentialinformation is requested after passage of the first amount of time, anyof the plurality of computing devices will reply with new credentialinformation that is different than the credential information; and asecond value indicating a first amount of time which, if credentialinformation is requested prior to passage of the first amount of time,any of the plurality of computing devices will reply with the credentialinformation.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the computing device isa first controller in a distributed system; the distributed systemcomprises a plurality of like controllers having respective independenttime references; and tracking time to identify a plurality of intervalscomprises computing, from a local time reference on the firstcontroller, identifiers for each of the plurality of intervals thatmatch identifiers for intervals computed on each of the plurality oflike controllers using a respective independent time reference.
 9. Atleast one computer-readable storage medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, perform a method of computing a credential for an entity, themethod comprising: accessing credential refresh information for theentity, the credential refresh information comprising a starting timeand a credential refresh interval; computing based on at least thestarting time and the credential refresh interval a scheduled time ofcredential refresh; and computing the credential as a function of atleast the computed scheduled time of credential refresh and informationassociated with the account.
 10. The at least one computer-readablestorage medium of claim 9, wherein: accessing credential refreshinformation for the entity comprises accessing credential refreshinformation from a data store holding information for a plurality oflike entities.
 11. The at least one computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 9, wherein: computing the scheduled time of credential refreshcomprises identifying an interval of a plurality of intervals.
 12. Theat least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein: theentity comprises an account; and the starting time indicates an intervalof the plurality of intervals during which the account was created. 13.The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein:the method further comprises determining a key applicable during each ofthe plurality of intervals; and the credential is further computed as afunction of the key applicable during an interval of the plurality ofintervals associated with the computed scheduled time of credentialrefresh.
 14. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim11, wherein: the credential is computed in response to a requestreceived asynchronously relative to the plurality of intervals.
 15. Anetworked system, comprising: a plurality of computing devices, eachcomputing device comprising a respective local timing source, and eachcomputing device being adapted to: identify intervals of a plurality ofintervals, the plurality of computing devices tracking intervals of acommon duration, each computing device tracking the intervals based onthe respective local timing source; compute a credential for an entityby: selecting an interval of the plurality of intervals based oncredential refresh information associated with the entity; executing afunction of at least the selected interval and information associatedwith the entity.
 16. The networked system of claim 15, wherein: theplurality of computing devices comprise domain controllers in a network.17. The networked system of claim 16, further comprising: a plurality ofhost computing devices, each host computing device hosting an instanceof a service, each instance being associated with the entity such thateach host receives for use with an instance of the service a consistentcredential from any of the domain controllers.
 18. The networked systemof claim 15, further comprising: a data store comprising credentialrefresh information for each of a plurality of entities, the credentialrefresh information comprising a start time and a refresh interval. 19.The networked system of claim 15, wherein: the method further comprisesdetermining a key, shared by the plurality of computing devices in theselected interval; and executing the function comprises executing afunction of at least the key, the selected interval and the informationassociated with the entity.
 20. The networked system of claim 15,wherein: each of the plurality of computing devices comprises a domaincontroller for a network.